Proposal to install 1.4 lakh CCTVs in Delhi to be placed before cabinet in a week: CM Arvind Kejriwal

The PWD will execute the project, which was announced in July last year. An election promise of AAP, the CCTVs will be installed at public places. All 70 assembly constituency will have 2,000 cameras each.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal speaks during an interactive session with RWA's, Market Associations and general public for installation of CCTVs in the national capital at Indira Gandhi Stadium Complex in New Delhi on July 29, 2018.(Burhaan Kinu/HT PHOTO)

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday directed his officials to place the proposal to install 1.4 lakh CCTVs in the city before the cabinet within a week. The Delhi government is likely to award the installation work to a public sector undertaking, Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), next month.

Giving the green signal, the chief minister said there was no need to seek licence from the police to install cameras, a government spokesperson said. A cabinet note to award the work will be prepared within a week.

The CM issued these directions after a meeting with public works department (PWD) minister Satyendar Jain, PWD secretary Manoj Kumar Parida and other officials of departments involved in the project .

The PWD will execute the project, which was announced in July last year. An election promise of AAP, the CCTVs will be installed at public places. All 70 assembly constituency will have 2,000 cameras each.

The Kejriwal government and lieutenant-governor Anil Baijal’s office have been at loggerheads over the issue. The L-G had on May 8 formed a high-level committee headed by the principal secretary (home) and tasked it to draw up standard operating protocols for the installation and operation of CCTVs and submit a report. Jain had earlier called Baijal’s decision to form the committee “illegal”.

At a public gathering on Sunday, Kejriwal tore the draft report on CCTV prepared by the L-G’s special committee. The CM had also announced that his government would start installing the cameras without a licence from Delhi police. The L-G office, however, had said the draft rules put out for public suggestions have only prescribed a reporting mechanism for CCTVs and “not a licensing mechanism”.

A senior government official on Monday said that if required, some changes may be made in the draft report of the committee after public feedback that ends on July 31. The committee will submit its revised draft report to the L-G office after taking into consideration the suggestions, he said.

The representatives of the elected government, however, continue to call the committee report “infructuous”.

The committee had recommended Delhi police would be the custodian of all CCTV cameras installed at public places.

“The owner and data controller of CCTV system shall report to the appropriate authority ... disclosing the purpose, number, and location of the CCTV system, manner of usage, handling and storage of data. On receipt of the report … the appropriate authority shall satisfy itself regarding the installation and use of the system in accordance with these rules,” the report had recommended.

Officials say the cameras will be equipped with 4 MP (megapixel) infrared day/night vision facilities and the recordings would be preserved for a month and the live footage would displayed in at least five panels.

“The PWD had finalised the central government company BEL to fix CCTVs and the estimated cost of the entire project including installation and five-year maintenance is Rs 571 crore out of which Rs 322 crore is for installation,” a government official said.